The second event of the Carolina Yakfish series was held this past weekend (4/27) at Lake Mackintosh in Burlington.  We had another solid turnout with 28 anglers.  Thanks to everyone that participated, we were able to raise another $280 for our benefitting organization, Heroes on the Water.  The weather turned out great – mid 60s temps with mostly light winds and an over cast sky.  But catching fish proved tough as everyone had to work pretty hard for the bites they got.  Half the field went home without catching a bass and only 5 anglers turned in a 3-fish limit.

Our 4th and 5th place finishers each received a $50 gift card from our good friends at Get: Outdoors in Greensboro.  Coming in 5th, with “3 dinks” (as he described them) totaling 33.25 inches was John Stokes.  4th Place went to 2011 AOY Joe Anglcek with 3 largemouth totaling 34.25″.  The 3rd place finisher,  with a 3-fish limit that measured 35.5″, was Henry Veggian.  Barely edging Veggian and placing 2nd ,was Rick Rowland, with 3 fish totaling 36 inches.  And our big winner of the day was, 2012 AOY runner-up, Shelly Efird with a limit totalling 44.75 inches.  Shelly is off to a hot start this year, so everyone will be gunning for him for the rest of the season!  Finally, big bass honors today went to Joey Sullivan, with a hefty 20.25″ bass.

Thank you again to everyone that came out today.  We really appreciate your participation as we continue to support wounded warriors.  Our next event is just 3 weeks away (May 18th) and will be held at Jordan Lake at the Ebeneezer boat ramp.  Please once again plan on arriving at 6am.  See you then!

* Won big bass pot with a 20.25″ LMB

The 2013 Carolina Yakfish series kicked off on Saturday, March 23rd at Shearon Harris.  We had a great turnout with 37 anglers and the lake provided some very nice fish. We had six largemouth submitted that were 20″ or better, and 29 that were 16″+.  The rain stayed away, the winds stayed down, and we raised a respectable chunk of change for our benefitting organization, Heroes on the Water.

4th and 5th place finishers each received a $50 gift card to Get: Outdoors in Greensboro.  They were Joey Benevenia with a 50.5″ limit and Nathan Raycroft who finished with 48″.  Well done guys!  3rd place went to Mike Langer with a 52″ 3-bass limit.  2nd went to Jeff Ratliff who also finished with 52″ (after a .25″ deduction).  Jeff went home with 2nd place money because his largest fish (21.25″) was bigger than Mike’s (20″).  The big winner of the day was Brian English with three nice largemouth that totaled 56″.  Congrats, gentlemen!  Finally, big bass honors today went to 2012 AOY runner-up Shelly Efird with a 23.75″ sow (pictured below).  Click HERE for Kayak Fishing NC tourney write-up and photo gallery.

Because of the nice turnout, we were able to raise $402 today for HOW.  Thanks to everyone for coming out!

The next event is Lake Mackintosh on April 27th.  We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Shelly’s big bass

*Won tie-breaker with 21.25″ fish

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March 23 – Shearon Harris (Holleman’s Crossing)

April 27 – Lake Mackintosh (Huffman Mill)

May 18 – Jordan Lake (Ebenezer)

June 1 – Randleman Reservoir (Southwest Park)

Looking forward to a great year!

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UPDATE – Feb 11, 2013

Good news, folks!  Native Watercraft is once again hooking us up with our Angler of the Year prize.  This year it will be none other than a brand new Slayer 14.5!  Big thanks to all the fine folks at Native!

Additionally, our good friends at Get:Outdoors in Greensboro will be providing us with two $50 gift cards per tournament to give as prizes.  We plan for those to go to our 4th and 5th place finishers in each tournament.  Thanks, Get:Outdoors!

Jason Scott, Shelly Efird, Joey Sullivan, and DJ Myslinski stand with the 2012 Native AOY boat

The final tournament of the 2012 season was held at Jordan Lake on Saturday, October 20th. We had a great turnout with 33 anglers – thank you to all who participated today and throughout the season! Weather was fantastic for the tournament – light winds and temps in the 70s. Although the blue bird skies probably didn’t help the fishing much. Still, lot of bass were caught today and 8 anglers turned in a limit.

4th thru 7th place finishers were all awarded $25 gift cards to Hook1. Those gift cards went to Bob Dainton (7th), Shelly Efird (6th), Henry Veggian (5th), and Stephen Fields(4th). Nice job, guys! Coming in 3rd place with a 3 fish limit of 47″ was DJ Myslinski. Second place went to Jason Scott, with a 3 fish limit of 50″. Jason also had the big fish of the day with a 20.5″ beauty he caught with a jig off the riprap. The big winner of the day was Joey Sullivan, with a 3 fish limit of 50.75″. Joey once again donated the first place cash prize to Heroes on the Water. Joey donated all of his winnings (over $700) this year to HOW and it is very much appreciated.

With the win, Joey secured the Angler of the Year title for the 2nd time in 3 years, however, being an organizer of the event, awarded the camo Native Watercraft Redfish 12 prize to Shelly Efird, who finished 2nd in the standings. Congrats to all who placed today and to Shelly on his new kayak!  Final 2012 AOY standings can be seen HERE.

Thank you to everyone that came out today and helped us support HOW. With everyone’s help, we raised an additional $165 through entry fees today, $216 through lanyard sales for the year (thanks again, Joey B!), $270 through rod/reel raffle sales for the year (thanks, Brett Hinson and Carolina Custom Rods!), $704 in donations from Joey Sullivan, $350 from Nathan Raycroft, and a few other donations for a total of $2,431 for the year! Our goal for the year was $2,000, so thanks to everyone for helping us smash that goal!

Click HERE to read more about the day and see some pictures at Kayak Fishing NC.

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The 4th tournament of the 2012 season was held at Lake Michie on Saturday, September  15th.  We had a great turnout with 31 anglers – thank you to all who participated. It got a little windy for a while but other than that, we had very nice weather.  Lots of bass were caught today and 15 of out 31 anglers caught a limit.  Another strong showing for the field – nice job guys!

4th thru 7th place finishers were all awarded $25 gift cards to Hook1.  Those gift cards went to Steve Hurst (7th), Shelly Efird (6th), Bo Anders (5th), and Philip Ruckart (4th).  Nice job, guys!  Coming in 3rd place with a 3 fish limit of 44.5″ was Joey Sullivan.  Joey generously donated his 3rd place cash prize to Heroes on the Water.  Thanks, Joey!  Second place went to John Stokes, with a 3 fish limit of 44.5″.  John’s 18″ largemouth (after .25″ deduction) edged Joey’s 17.75″er to break the tie.  Well done, John!  The big winner of the day was Jeff Lee, an active duty soldier and HOW volunteer who missed our  last two tourneys because of deployment.  He ended the day with a very nice limit of 54.75″.  Jeff also took big bass honors with a 22.5″ sow.  Way to go, Jeff!

Thank you to everyone that came out today and helped us support HOW.  With everyone’s help, we raised an additional $155 through entry fees, $18 through lanyard sales (thanks again, Joey B!), $150 through raffle sales, and the $124 donation for a total of $447 for the day and $1822 for the year!  We are very close to hitting our goal of $2,000 for the year.

Congrats to the field today for another great showing.  This was another very competitive tournament.  We hope to see everyone at our final event of the year at Jordan Lake on October 20th.  We will crown the Carolina Yakfish 2012 Angler of the Year, award a brand new Native Watercraft kayak, and raffle off the Revo SX/Carolina Custom Rods combo.  See y’all then!

Click HERE to read more about the day and see some pictures at Kayak Fishing NC.

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* Jeff Lee also won the big fish pot with a 22.5″ largemouth.

**Both tie breakers were decided by the angler with the largest fish.

The third tournament of the 2012 season was held at Fort Fisher on Saturday, June 30th. Depending on which forecast you saw, it was going to range from 90 to 104 degrees.  It felt awfully hot, but probably only reached the lower 90s. Unfortunately, the fishing wasn’t quite as hot, but one angler managed to get a slam and there were some nice fish caught. The biggest drum was only 10.75″ and was caught by Mike English. Most people felt the hot weather drove the drum a bit further south and out of the basin area.

4th thru 7th place finishers were all awarded $25 gift cards to Hook1. Those gift cards went to Mark Patterson (7th), Nathan Raycroft (6th), Mike English (5th), and Matt Sadler (4th). Nice job, guys! Coming in third place, with a two fish total of 28.75″ was Matt Frazier. Second place honors went to Tanner Pruitt, who was the youngest competitor in the event and did quite well. Congrats Tanner! The big winner of the day and the only angler to manage a slam was Brian English with a 3 fish total of 38.25″. The big fish pot was split by Tanner Pruitt and Nathan Raycroft, who each boated a 18.75″ flounder. Congrats Tanner and Nathan! Individual fish lengths for each angler can be seen in the table below.

Thank you to everyone that came out today and helped us support Heroes on the Water. With everyone’s help, we raised an additional $110 through entry fees, $42 through lanyard sales, and an additional $20 in raffle ticket sales. This brings our year to date total to $1,375. Thank you to everyone that particpanes in our events that makes this possible.

Our next event is back in the sweet water at Lake Michie on September 15th.  See you then!

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*Pruitt and Raycroft split the big fish pot.

After the tournament at Shearon Harris on 4/14/12, tournament organizers discovered that Calvin had submitted fish in the tournament that were previously caught and frozen. Based on this discovery, we also reviewed past submissions in further detail, and discovered that Calvin had also submitted frozen fish at the 2011 finale at Jordan Lake.

We have confronted Calvin and received a confession and recovered all monies won in the events named above and for his share of the Angler of the Year prize. Recovered funds will be distributed to the rightful winners immediately. As a result of this, Calvin has obviously been stripped of his 2011 Co-Angler of the Year title. Therefore, Joe Angelcyk is the sole 2011 Angler of the Year.

We are very disappointed to have to make this announcement, but feel it is mandatory to deter future instances.

Thank you for your continued support of the Carolina Yakfish series.

The second tournament of the 2012 season was held at Southwest Park on Randleman Reservoir on Saturday, May 12th.  We’d like to thank Berry Bynum and park staff for opening up early for us to get everyone launched on time.  That was much appreciated, thank you!

Today’s weather was absolutely perfect and a ton of bass were caught.  18 out of 25 anglers caught their limit and there were a few anglers that reported catching 15-20 bass!  Big bass honors today went to Bo Anders with a 20″ toad.  This was Bo’s 2nd consecutive CY tourney that he’s caught a 20″er.  Congrats, “Big Bass” Bo!

4th thru 7th place finishers were all awarded $25 gift cards to Hook1.  Those gift cards went to Brad Crater (7th), John Stokes (6th), Jim Lor (5th), and Shelly Efird (4th).  Nice job, guys!  We had two anglers tie for 2nd place, both with a 3-fish limit of 52.25″.  Scott Inge was awarded 3rd, and Dale Chapman 2nd due to our tie breaker format of biggest single largemouth (Dale’s 19″er edged Scott’s 18.75″).  Great job of catching ‘em and congrats, Scott and Dale!

Coming in 1st place, with a winning margin of only 1/2″ was 2010 Carolina Yakfish AOY Joey Sullivan with a 3-fish limit of 52.75″.  Joey generously donated his first place cash prize winnings to Heroes on the Water.  Congrats and thanks, Joey!

Thank you to everyone that came out today and helped us support HOW.  With everyone’s help, we raised an additional $125 through entry fees, $26 through lanyard sales, and the $250 donation for a total of $401 for the day and $1077 for the year!

Congrats to the field today for such a strong showing.  This was easily our most competitive tournament to date.  We hope to see y’all at our next event on June 30th at Fort Fisher.  Time to get salty!

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* Won tie-breaker with a 19″ bass.
** Won tie-breaker with a 20″ bass.

Photo above by Jason Scott

The first tournament of the 2012 season blasted off on Shearon Harris on Saturday, April 14th.  We shattered our attendance record with 42 anglers (previous high was 31)!  It was a little chilly in the morning, but it quickly warmed up and turned into a very nice day.  The breeze picked up in the afternoon, so many anglers reported ducking into coves to dodge the wind.  Most found the bedding bass to be on the picky side, but there were still quite a few largemouth boated.

Big bass honors went to Wayne Butler with a 22.75″ beauty.  4th thru 7th place finishers were all awarded $25 gift cards to Hook1.  Those gift cards went to Jason Longfellow (7th), Brad Crater (6th), Jeff Lee (5th), Daniel Arnold (4th).  Congrats, guys!  Third place went to Raleigh native Brian Roy, who finished with a solid 3-fish limit of 43.5″.  Coming in second place, was Hardcore Kayak Fishing Team member Chris Edwards, whose 3-bass limit totaled 45″.  Finally, it was newcomer Patrick Parmenter that bested the field (and made good on his pre-tourney smack talk) with a 3-fish limit of 51″.  Congratulations, gentlemen, on a job well done.

Thank you to everyone for supporting Heroes on the Water.  With your help today, we were able to raise $210 from entry fees.  Also, a big thank you to Joey Benevenia for creating the custom identifiers and donating lanyards to sell for HOW.  Lanyard sales totaled an additional $116.  Additionally, Nathan Raycroft, donated $350 after he recently sold one of his kayaks. So we’re off to a great start for the year with a total of $686 for HOW.

Thanks again to everyone that made it out, we were pleasantly surprised with the huge turnout and we’re already looking forward to our next event at big bass factory Randleman Reservoir on May 12th.  Also, don’t forget about the next kayak fishing tournament that benefits HOW, the NCKFA Battle in the ‘Boro, which is coming up on April 27th and 28th.  See you there!